Michael R. Conner

Of Counsel (Retired)

Michael R. Conner is retired of counsel in the Indianapolis office of Barnes & Thornburg in the firm's Litigation Department. He devoted his practice primarily to the defense of products liability and other personal injury actions. He served as national defense counsel for a major Indiana manufacturer and, as such, had primary responsibility for cases throughout the United States. In that capacity, he litigated products cases in state and federal courts in more than 40 states.

OVERVIEW

EXPERIENCE

INSIGHTS & EVENTS

OVERVIEW

Michael R. Conner
Of Counsel (Retired)

Michael R. Conner is retired of counsel in the Indianapolis office of Barnes & Thornburg in the firm's Litigation Department. He devoted his practice primarily to the defense of products liability and other personal injury actions. He served as national defense counsel for a major Indiana manufacturer and, as such, had primary responsibility for cases throughout the United States. In that capacity, he litigated products cases in state and federal courts in more than 40 states.

Michael has served on the board of directors of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana and is a member of the Indiana State Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, and the American Bar Association. Michael is admitted to practice in the Southern and Northern Districts of Indiana, the Central District of Illinois, and the 4th and 7th Circuit Courts of Appeals. He was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1997. Michael has been selected for inclusion in the current edition, and many previous editions, of The Best Lawyers in America in the field of product liability/business litigation. He is also listed in several editions of Indiana Super Lawyers magazine.

Michael graduated from the University of Notre Dame where he received an A.B. magna cum laude in history in 1972. He graduated summa cum laude in 1975 from the Indiana University School of Law Bloomington where he served as associate editor of the Indiana Law Journal and was selected to the Order of the Coif. He joined Barnes & Thornburg in 1975 and became partner in 1982.

Michael is a former special deputy prosecutor for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office in the area of insurance fraud. He lectures at various continuing legal education programs and has served for many years as a faculty member of the NITA Trial Advocacy Skills Workshop.

EDUCATION

Indiana University-Bloomington, J.D., summa cum laude, 1975

University of Notre Dame, A.B., magna cum laude, 1972

Bar Admissions

Indiana

Court Admissions

Central District of Illinois

Southern and Northern Districts of Indiana

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

EXPERIENCE

In DePuy Orthopaedics, et al. v. Travis Brown, et al., Case No. 49A02-1304-CT-00332 (Ind. Ct. App. May 30, 2014), the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a decision from the Marion County Superior Court denying a forum non conveniens motion in a products liability action brought in Indiana by nineteen non-Indiana plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, who were residents of Virginia and Mississippi, were implanted with a hip prosthesis in surgeries that took place in either Mississippi or Virginia. The prosthesis was designed and manufactured in Leeds, England. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss under Indiana Trial Rule 4.4(C), arguing that Marion County, Indiana is not a convenient forum in which to litigate these claims. The trial court denied the motion, but granted Defendants’ motion for interlocutory appeal. On May 30, 2014, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, noting that the inconvenience of securing out-of-state non-party witnesses and other discovery, the conflict in products liability law among Indiana, Virginia and Mississippi, and the availability of a more convenient forum all warranted dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims. Plaintiffs have petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court for review.

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